


Show Me Your Love (Before The World Catches Up)

by HearteyesHusbands, musicallydependent



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Family, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, i dont even know, im just (poorly) imitating what other authors do when they tag, neither zaina nor i know how to tag excuse us, smol childs discussing and feeling grown up feelings, sue me, this fic is our baby pls be gentle pls, this is gonna be a long ride so bear with us, we'll probably add more tags as we upload more chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 22:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5473076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HearteyesHusbands/pseuds/HearteyesHusbands, https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicallydependent/pseuds/musicallydependent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Looouuuuu."<br/>"<em>What</em>, H."<br/>"Hiiii."</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>Harry has The Bestest Friends ever, Louis is the wisiest, Zayn's hopeless, Liam's clueless (and late to the party), and Niall just wants everyone to kiss and make up, honestly.<br/>And somehow, they all grow up.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Show Me Your Love (Before The World Catches Up)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crystal Gems Squad](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Crystal+Gems+Squad).



> Louis: 7 years old.  
> Zayn: 6 years old.  
> Harry: 4 years old.  
> Niall: 4 years old

 

 Harry was a good boy, he’d say. His mums love him, Gem loves him, his cat loves him sometimes, his nana adores him. He doesn’t like fighting or being loud (except when he’s playing Power Rangers), and he loves flowers, cookies, swings, and his toys. But he always shares like his mum tells him.

 

 Which is why he’s confused and very much hurt when he’s pushed off the swing he had been on, a mean bully sneering at him.

 

 “It’s my turn now, kid, beat it,” he smirks. Harry tries not to cry, honest. He wants to be brave like his mum says he is. But he couldn’t help it; he felt his eyes welling up with tears and when the bully noticed his teary eyes he started laughing, “Awe, the poor baby has a _boo boo_?” He snorts at Harry.

 

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Harry hears someone say, he lifts his head up and sees a very pretty boy, he looks older than him, his skin is darker and he has _beautiful_ eyes, “He was there first!”

 

“What are you gonna do about it, _Paki_? Run crying to mummy?” The bully sneers.

 

The Beautiful Boy’s brave facade drops for a moment, a flash of hurt crossing his face.

 

“Jake, you arse!”, another new voice squeaks.

 

Harry really doesn’t know much people.

 

“Pick on someone your own size!”, The high-pitched voice belonged to a very.. _cute_.. **_tiny_**.. boy?

 

The new new boy comes sauntering over, his little eyebrow arched high. “He’s a just a baby Jake, how mean can you be?”

 

“I’m going to tell Auntie Jay you said ‘arse’!” Jake says, his eyes glaring at Cute Boy with every step he takes closer.

 

“Oh yeah? Alright, I’ll tell Auntie Emi you’re bullying a baby! We’ll see who gets in more trouble!” Cute Boy crosses his arms and gives Jake a defiant look, daring him to do something.

 

Jake’s fists were clinched by his sides, his face a little troubled. And then out of nowhere he pounces and pushes Cute Boy.

 

  Harry gasps and his tiny hands grab his cheeks in shock. Jake and the Cute Boy wrestle on the ground and Harry doesn’t know what to do. His knee _does_ have a boo boo.. Should he try and help the Cute Boy? Should he get an adult’s help? That’s the right thing to do, right?

 

  “Hey, are you okay?” The Beautiful Boy asks him, turning Harry’s attention away from the fight in front of him. Harry nods, sniffling a little and standing up with Beautiful boy’s help.

 

“Thank you,” Harry says quietly. Being nice is important, his nana tells him. And nana is always right.

 

  Beautiful Boy grins and helps him sit on the swing again, Harry bottom lip wobbles a little when he hops on it but then he settles and grins at Beautiful Boy, “Thank you, I’m Harry Edward Styles, I’m four,” He says and holds up four fingers, “Is your name Paki?”

 

“No,” Beautiful Boy says with furrowed eyebrows, “that’s a bad word to say! M’name’s Zayn.”

 

 Harry opens his mouth to apologize but stops abruptly when Cute Boy comes back ( _there’s a lot of pretty people here, wow,_ Harry thinks), yelling in Jake’s direction (who’s now running away). “And don’t you dare tell me mum, Jake!”, He turns back around and smiles at Harry, his front tooth missing. There’s a bit of blood dripping on his chin, which he wipes on the back of his hand and then extends his hand for Harry to shake it.

 

Cute Boy then realizes the blood covering the back of his hand and pulls it back, grinning toothily, the gap in between his teeth prominent. “Oops!”, He wipes the blood on his shorts and extends his hand towards Harry again, this time clean(er). “Hello! I’m Louis, I’m seven years old!” He states proudly.

 

“Hi,” Harry dimples (his mum says it makes him extra adorable), shaking Louis’ hand and using the other to wipe his face of the tears and snot, “I’m Harry Edward Styles, I’m four.”

 

“Hi Harry Edward Styles! How did ya’ hair get so curly? Can I call you Curly?” He says, touching Harry’s hair and tugging a curl that’s close to his neck. Harry giggles; that tickled. Louis grins again, and Harry couldn’t help but feel his cheeks heating up.

 

Louis then turns to Zayn, still grinning, “Hi, I’m Louis!”

 

Zayn shyly smiles at him, “I’m Zayn.”

 

“Do you wanna play footie with me? I promise Jake won’t come back!”

  
 Harry smiles at him and nods his head, his little fingers playing with the bottom of his shirt, Zayn is a little hesitant though, but when Louis pouts and says “Please, please, pretty please?” Zayn sighs and nods his head, they both follow Louis as he runs to grab his football from under one of the benches.

 

  Harry knows he’s not the best at football, he always trips or misses the goal, and Zayn isn’t that good either, but he scores some goals. Louis, though, Louis is _awesome_ at footie, he keeps scoring goals and he even passes Harry the football and let’s him score and he held Harry’s hand when they ran because Harry was a little slow.  

 

 Around sunset Harry says he has to go home, and he skips towards a group of girls huddled in a circle laughing and talking all at once. They all quiet down when Harry shows up and start cooing at him, and he dimples again.

 

  “Gem, gem, gem,” Harry sing-songs, “time to go home.” He tries to rhyme ‘home’ with Gem, and the girls let him and smile at him.

 

  Gem says her goodbyes to her friends and follows Harry, but Harry starts walking towards two boys so Gemma keeps following.

 

 Gemma is _four_ years older than Harry, her eyes and hair are darker, her hair is black, and she looks like Mama the most.

 

  She smiles at Harry when she’s close to him and looks him up and down checking for any injuries, when she doesn’t find any her smile grows.

 

 “Hey, H,” She says, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, “who’re those?”

 

“This is Louis, and this is Zayn,” He says pointing at each one of them, “we’re bestest friends.”

 

  Gemma looks skeptic and raises an eyebrow but says ‘hi’ to both of them, and then she looks back at Harry, “Are you ready to go?”

 

Harry nods and waves goodbye to both of them, and then holds Gemma’s hand and walks back home with her babbling about his new best friends (he only looks back at Lou and Zayn twice, maybe three times.)

 

  (Harry goes to sleep that night cuddling his teddy and dreams about playing footie with Louis and Zayn.. and holding Lou’s hand.)

  
  


*football emoji* *heart with arrow emoji* *bear emoji*

 

 

  Harry wakes up super super super excited for his first day of kindergarten, Mama and Mum bought him new shoes and a Power Rangers lunch box, and a Power Ranger’s school bag. Granted, he doesn’t have any books and Mama said he can’t take his colors with him in case he loses them, but still. He’s going to school, kinda.

 

  Harry packs his favourite teddy bear Laila, and his favourite red power ranger... and the yellow one. And the white one. And two of his barbies. And his train. And two small race car toys. And Gemma’s earphones ‘cause they look cool. And then Mama makes him empty it and allows him to only take one Power Ranger (he chooses the red one of course), and one barbie and return Gemma’s earphones and apologize for taking them without asking. But then she packs him two cookies, and a banana, and a Nutella sandwich and a juicebox. Harry is so happy he’s going to pee himself. And he gets to eat pancakes for breakfast. Best. Day. Ever.

 

  Mum and Mama are taking Harry and Gemma to ‘school’ and they both get kisses and hugs and Gemma starts whining about how _embarrassing_ their mums are, but Harry hugs Mama back as tight as he can, giving her a kiss on her cheek (who's the favourite child now??). Mum has to drag Mama away when she starts crying and talking about keeping Harry home one more month or year, and Harry waves goodbye and holds Gemma’s hand as she takes him to his classroom teacher. She shows him where to hang his things and introduces him to his new teacher, Ms. Olivares. She’s a gorgeous lady with warm brown eyes and soft dark hair and pretty earrings. Gemma leaves soon after, giving him a small hug before.

 

  Harry loves his new class. Ms. Olivares made them introduce themselves and share one thing they love, and then gave them a cookie, and Harry now has three cookies, and he sits next to a boy called Jeff and they talked about how much they love drawing pictures, and he wrote his own name with _finger paints_ and then they had lunch time. Harry and the other kids took out their lunch boxes and started eating- Harry is saving the cookies for later. He starts with the Nutella sandwich, eating one bite of it and then a bite from his banana, when he notices (Niel? Nal?) a brunette boy not eating anything but the cookie Ms. Olivares gave them. Determined, he gets up and takes his lunch box with him, careful not to drop anything, and sits next to him.

 

“I’m Harry Edward Styles, I’m four and a half.” Harry says, introducing himself.

 

“Um,” the boy mumbles, “I’m Niall.. I’m four.” Harry waits for more but the boy stays quiet, so Harry tries to start the conversation smoothly.

 

“Why don’t you have any food? Are you poor and homeless?”

 

The boy stares with confused wide eyes at Harry and then bursts into laughter. “No!” He giggles, but then his giggles fade a bit. “Mummy was too tired to make me lunch today.”

 

The boy looks very uncomfortable now and a little close to tears, so Harry tries to change the subject. “I have two mummies,” he offers.

 

Niall looks skeptical. “Two?”

 

“Yup,” he says, happy that Niall is starting to talk back, “Mama Zaina and Mummy Cara, and I have one sister, too.”

 

“I have a brother,” Niall says proudly, “he’s ten years old.”

 

“Gemma, my sister, is eight. But sometimes she acts like she’s an old lady,” Harry giggles, “‘Harry, pass the TV remote’, ‘Harry, finish your vegetables’, ‘Harold, brush my teeth for me’.”

 

  Niall starts laughing again at the way Harry’s making his voice shake, and Harry laughs with him. He slowly starts pushing his food towards Niall when Niall isn’t noticing, keeps distracting Niall with stories about Gemma until Niall had eaten three bites of his Nutella sandwich.

 

  “Harry! I can’t eat this! It’s yours!” Niall says when he realizes what Harry is doing, eyes jumping from Harry’s face to the sandwich, and he throws it on Harry’s lap and gets up.

 

“No, wait!” Harry squeaks, “I’m sorry!”

 

Niall stops moving away and looks at him weirdly, “What the heck are you sorry about?”

 

“Because you’re allergic to nuts?”

 

“I’m not.. allergic.. to nuts…” Niall says, looking like he’s never been so confused.

 

“But, you’re not eating the Nutella I gave you,” Harry pouts, “everyone likes Nutella.”

 

“I love Nutella,” Niall clarifies, “but I don’t want pity.”

 

“Um, there isn’t any pity (pee-tee) in it, promise.”

 

Niall barks a laugh and then shuts his lips in a tight line, “It means I don’t want your leftovers.”

 

“Well, erm, you can have some cookies? They don’t have pity either, Mama made them for my new friends.”

 

Niall’s face lights up at that. “We’re friends?”

 

“Yeah, I gave you my Nutella. We’re friends.”

 

“WEY-HEY!” Niall squeals, and then grabs the two cookies, “It’s my first day and I already have a friend!”

 

 Harry and Niall ask the Ms. to sit next to each other and she says yes, and then they spend the rest of the day making silly faces at each other and playing with Harry’s Power Ranger and Barbie in playtime. Niall’s brother and Gemma come to pick them up after school and Niall hugs Harry goodbye and promises him to bring his own Power Ranger tomorrow so they can play together. Harry tells Mum about Niall and Lou and Zayn (whom he’s been friends with for two months now) and about how much he loves making friends, and his mum nods and smiles at him and even lets him sing along to the radio. Harry _loves_ kindergarten.

  
  
  


*sun emoji* *cookie emoji* *blonde baby emoji*

  
  


  The first time Niall meets Louis and Zayn is a month later, when it turns out that Niall lives around their neighborhood, Harry is ecstatic when he learns that, he can’t wait for his favourite friends to all be friends and play together. Niall’s mum drops Niall off at Harry’s house and they all leave together after Harry’s mum makes them lunch. Harry and Niall hold Gemma’s hand when they cross the road (Niall getting a _little_ more pink cheeked when he holds her hand), and then they finally spot Louis and Zayn passing the old worn out football between them.

 

Louis spots them first, looking up and grinning. “Harry!” He shouts gleefully, waving them over.

 

  Harry returns the smile, and after saying a quick goodbye to Gemma he grabs Niall’s hand and runs to his bestest friends.

 

“Hiya!” Harry says. “This is Niall, he’s in my class and he’s four like me!”

 

Niall waves shyly and quietly says “Hiiii.” Louis sticks a hand out immediately while Zayn just smiles back.

 

“Hi Niall! I’m Louis, I’m seven, and this is Zayn, he’s six! You wanna play some footie?”

 

Niall smiles genuinely this time, wide and happy at Louis. “Yeah!”

 

“Come on then, let’s play! Now we have enough people to play!” Louis grabs the football with one hand and Niall’s wrist with the other and leads them to a small patch of unused grass.

 

“Me and Harry are together,” Louis calls to them, “and you two are together.”

 

Harry beams, Zayn nods, and Niall just looks excited in general.

 

  The game doesn’t last more than thirty minutes tops, because Harry claims that it’s too hot (‘we live in London for god’s sake, Harreh’) and so they rest under a big oak tree, lying down and looking up at the cloudy sky.

 

And then Louis says he wants to dance.

 

  Of course Harry is on board with the idea, getting up and running as fast as his short feet will let him ( _will he ever get to be tall like his mummies_ , he wonders) and asks to borrow Gemma’s new mp3 player. Gemma, being the best older sister to ever exist, says yes, but says if he breaks it she’ll never lend him anything ever again, and Harry is so happy he skips to Louis and the rest.

 

“Okay, but we have to be careful with this! Gemma said we can’t put it on the ground either!” Harry says, smiling at Louis and kinda forgetting about the others.

 

Louis smiles brightly back. “We’ll be extra careful, I promise,” Louis tells him, and balls up his sweater, taking the mp3 player from Harry’s hands and putting it on top very carefully. Harry goes over to pick a song while Louis gets Zayn and Niall up, who hadn’t moved at all from their positions on the ground since they laid down.

 

“C’mon lads! Let’s dance!” Louis says, practically forcing Zayn to get off the ground, who kept whining that he wanted to just lay down. Niall got up as soon as Louis had said so, walking over to Harry to help with the song choice, babbling about dancing being fun.

 

“But I just wanna lie down Lou, let me lie down,” Zayn pouts, still lying on the floor, “I’ve _never_ danced _ever_ in my whole _life_!”

 

“Well you’ll start now! C’mon Z, up!” Louis finally managed to get Zayn off the ground, despite his protests.

 

A song with an upbeat tune starts to play and Harry raises the volume, he starts jumping excitedly, “This is it, Lou!” Harry squeaks and starts making weird moves with his arms and legs. Louis laughs and joins him, letting go of Zayn’s hand (who moves to where Niall is quietly moving his hips around) and jumping next to Harry and dancing with moves _very much similar_ to the Power Rangers’ attack moves.

 

  Louis gets closer to Harry and holds his hand, twirling him around, but Harry stops mid-move and stares at Louis.

 

“We can’t dance like this, Lou,” he says with huge eyes, “only married people dance like this.”

 

“Who cares, Hazzah? We’ll be old married people one day!” Louis reasons, and Harry stares at him for a second and then tackles him in a hug clumsy enough to make them both topple over.

 

“Promise?” Harry asks, arms around Louis’ head, his chest pressed to Louis’ head, which is pressed to the ground.

 

“Promise.” Louis chokes out, trying to breathe without pushing Harry off him or hurting his feelings.

  
  


Zayn is just trying to figure out if this is what dancing _really_ is.

  


**Author's Note:**

> KUDOS AND COMMENT PLEASE:  
> TELL US IF YOU ENJOYED WE'D APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH A LOT  
> Z'S IG: @LARRYLIBRARY  
> C'S TUMBLR: haloslove.tumblr.com
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING! Xx


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